William peesley



(No Model.)

' W. PRESLEY.

PROPELLING BOAT S, 5Z0- No. 284,325. Patented Sept. 4, 1883.

UNITED STATES 'QPATENT OFFIC PROPELLING BOATS, 84c.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 284,325, datedApplication filed April 5, 1883. (No model.)

1?) all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Prensmx, a citizen of the United States,residing at VVashington, in the District of Columbia, have in 5 ventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Row-Boats and other WVater-Oraft;and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make erence being had to the accompanying drawings, and tothe letters and figures of reference marked thereon, specification.

My invention relates to improvements in boats; and it consists,essentially, in the means whereby the boat is propelled andguided; andit has for its object to provide a boat which may be rapidly propelledwithout any extra- 20 ordinary fatigue to the operator, and may beguided with ease, and the helm held at any desired point, all of whichwill be more fully described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improvedboat. Fig. 2 isa' cross-section of same on line 00 m, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a de tachedvertical longitudinal section on line y y, Fig.1; and Figs. 4, 5, and 6show detail views of several of the parts, all of which will bedescribed.

The hull A is preferably made in the shape shown, with the long prow andthe bulge arranged nearthe stern; but my invention is applicable toboats of any ordinary shape of hull. I also prefer to make the hull ofthin or sheet steel, and constructed in any manner well 7 known to thetrade. Near the rear end of the hull I fix the bearingsfor thepropelling-wheel shafts, which, as shown, consists of a suitable frame,B, having its sides secured to the sides of the hull and its lower andupper portions arched to form the arches b b. The arch b hereinaftercurves up above and between the sides of the boat,=and, in connectionwith the rest of frame B, strengthens and braces the hull at the point Iwhere greatest strength is desired, as will be understood 011 referenceto the drawings.

The prop eller-wheel shafts G (l' are j ourn aled,

arranged at an angle of about sixty degrees, and inclined in oppositedirections, so that their upper portions, on which the wheels are journaled, will extend over or nearly over the side of the hull. On theshafts O O, midway of the invention, such anduse the same, refwhich forma part of this the stem 70 of the rudder 7:, preferably, in the arches bb, as shown, and- Eeptember 4, 1883.

orbetween the arches b b, I fix the ratchet plates or disks 0 c,journaled on the shafts 0 O, and over the ratchet-disks c c are leversor arms d d, which are provided with suitable pawls, d to engage theteeth of the said ratchet-disks, and thereby revolve the shafts O C! inthe operation of the device.

For convenience of reference, I will denominate the ends of the bars at(2 next the side of the boat their outer ends, and their opposite endstheir inner ends.

In the forward part of the hull, in advance of th'e'operato-r s seat, .Ipivot the hand-lever frame E. The upper arm of this lever is made longerthan the lower, so it may extend within easy reach of the operator, andalso togive the necessary power to operate the lever. The pivot-bar '6extends entirely across the frame, which is also provided with across-bar, 6, ar-

ranged above the bar e and equidistant therefrom with the lowercross-bar, c". To these cross-bars e e the connecting-rods, hereinafterdescribed, are fastened.

The foot lever or treadle F is pivoted slightly in advance of the leverE, and is constructed with the bars ff, arranged on opposite sides ofthe central pivot and at a suitable angle to receive the feet of theoperator. Rods. g y connect, respectively, the bars f of and the bars fe", and transmit the force applied to the foot-lever to the hand-lever,'whence it is conveyed to the shafts O O, as will be now described.-Rods h h have their forward ends made fast to the upper crossbar, e, ofthe lever E, and their rear ends made fast, respectively, to the innerend of the bar d and to the outer end of the bar cl. Rods h if havetheir forward ends made fast to the lower crossbar,

e", and their rear ends are made fast, respectively, to the outer end ofthe bar (I and to the inner end of the bar (1.

The seat z is arranged a suitable distance in rear of the hand-lever E,and its back a" is provided on its upperedge with a series of notches, tand thus serves as a rack-bar for the helm-lever. This helm-leverj ispivoted on the arch b, and its rear end is coupled to and its forwardend is bent up over the rack-bar vi, in conven- .ient reach of theoperator and in position to be engaged and held by the notches a? in therack-bar when it is desired in one position.

The wheels are journaled on upper ends of to hol d'rthe rudder shafts GC, and made, preferably, paddles, the alternate ones, I, being made of anarrower impinging-face than the paddles Z, as I will now describe.

In the operation of my device the paddles Z are forced into the water bythe drawing of the lever E toward the operator, and the paddles Z areforced in by the pushing of the lever away, as will be described. As thedrawing motion is much the stronger, I have made the impinging-face ofthe paddles operated thereby broader, as shown in Fig. 5, by turning theouter end of the paddles Z up and that of the paddles Z down, as shown,and the wheels are so supported that the impingingface of the paddle Zis only that portion of the end or point below the dotted lines, asshown. in Figs. 2 and 6, while the impinging-face of the paddles Z isthat portion below the dotted line shown in Fig. 5, which, it will beseen, is of larger area than that of the paddle 1. Thus in the operationof my inventionI have two power or heavy strokes and two light strokeswitheach revolution of the wheel.

I prefer to have the paddle-wheels arranged on both sides of the boat,and in that case use the connecting-rods, &c., on both sides of theboat, the paddles of the two wheels being arranged to interlap. WVhereso desired, however, a paddle-wheel could be used on one side only, thehelm being properly set to compensate, as is well understood.

The ratchet-disks are provided with two teeth, and those on the sameshaft are arranged at right angles to each other, substantially as shownin Fig. 4.,

My intention is to have my boat light, so it may be carried readily bytwo persons over shallow or rapid places, or looks or canals, or acrosscountry from stream; and in order to facilitate such transportation, Iprovide the handles m m on its opposite sides, whereby it may be carriedby a couple of men.

Where the boat is designed to carry two or more, it may be made broaderof beam than as shown; or the prow may be extended and seats arrangedtherein.

It will be seen that by means of the two lever-arms d d, operatedalternately, the shaft and the paddle-wheel thereon are given acontinuous motion as the propelling mechanism is operated.

In order to facilitate the propulsion of the boat in shallow streams, Iprovide the rods n, having their forward ends pivoted to the upper armof the hand-lever and their opposite ends arranged to engage on thebottom of the stream and aid in forcing the boat along as the lever isoperated. WVhen not in use, the rear ends of these rods are supported011 rests a, projected from the side of the boat.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, anddesire to secure byLetters Patent, 1s

1. A paddle-wheel for boats, journaled and revolved at an angle to thesurface of the water, and having its alternate paddles conof fourstructed and arranged the one to present a narrow and the other a broadimpinging-face, and means for operating the same, whereby a light andheavy stroke are alternately'given, substantially as described.

2. In a boat, the combination, with the paddle-wheel shaft set at anangle to the bottom of the boat, and having its upper end projectedabove the sides thereof, and the paddlewheel fixed upon the upper end ofthe wheel-. shaft, and revolving at an acute angle to the surface of thewater, of the ratchet-disks c c,

fixed upon the wheel-shaft, and having the teeth on the one diskarranged in alternate positions with. the teeth on the other, thetransverse rocking levers d d, pivoted on the wheel-shaft and in contactwith the disks 0 c, and provided with pawls to engage with the teeththereon, and means whereby the levers d d are alternately rocked backand forth, and a continuous rotary motion thereby imparted to thewheel-shaft and wheel, substantially as forth.

3. The combination, with the wheel-shaft set at an angle to the plane ofthe bottom of the boat, and having its upper end projected above the topthereof and adapted to carry the paddle-wheel and the ratchet-disks c 0,fixed upon the shaft of the transverse rocking levers d d, pivotedloosely'on the wheel-shaft and close to the ratchet-disks, and havingtheir ends arranged in alternate positions,

pawls fixed upon the rocking levers and en gaging with theratchet-disks, a rocking operating-frame pivoted within reach of theoperator, and a system of connecting-rods having their 'rear endsfastened to the ends of the rocking levers and their forward endsdisposed and fastened to the operating-frame, substantially as and forthe purposes set forth.

4. The combination, with the rocking lever or frame E, theconnecting-rods and the wheelshaft, of a rocking foot-lever, F, arrangedin advance of the lever E, connecting-rods g 9, having their forwardends made fast to the foot-lever on opposite sides of the pivotal centerthereof, and their rear ends disposed the one above and the other belowthe pivotal center of the frame E, and made fast to the latter,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

5. In a having rack-bar mounted thereon, and the rudder 70, having stem70, of the helm-lever pivoted 'on a suitable support, and having itsrear end coupled to the rudder-stem and its forward end arranged inconvenient reach of the operator and in position to be engaged with therack-bar, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

VILLIAM PRESLEY.

\Vitnesses:

P. B. Tunrnv, S. M. GoRDoN.

boat, the combination, with the seat IIO

